Over the past few months, rumors have abounded regarding a “professional” Canon EOS R. But recent news has given us the release month, making this new Canon camera more exciting than ever.
As initially reported by Canon Rumors, this Canon mirrorless snapper is about to enter the market, packing a resolution far beyond anything previously offered by Canon.
The Canon EOS Rs (as the folks at Canon Rumors are calling it) will apparently be announced in February of next year, presumably around the same time as the Canon 1D X Mark III and the Nikon D6, though it’ll be aimed at a completely different audience.
So what should we expect from Canon’s pro-level mirrorless model?
The EOS Rs will have plenty of the features you’d expect based on the EOS R, but better:
- The latest and greatest Canon processor, the DIGIC 9.
- A “similar” continuous shooting speed to the EOS R (which clocks in at 8 fps in One-Shot AF).
- An improved EVF.
- Weather sealing.
But the Canon EOS Rs is also rumored to possess traits that should pique the interest of quite a few professional photographers:
- Dual card slots and a 75 MP sensor.
The dual card slots are somewhat expected, given the slew of complaints that Canon received regarding the lack of dual slots on the EOS R. But a 75 MP sensor is groundbreaking for a 35mm camera, offering a higher pixel count than either the Canon 5DS and 5DSR duo or the Sony A7R IV. It would be, in fact, the highest-resolution 35mm digital camera currently available.
Now, a camera like the EOS Rs is designed with professional photographers in mind. The huge megapixel count is required by, for instance, commercial photographers, as well as those looking to make giant landscape prints.
But while megapixel monsters are undoubtedly powerful, they come with some downsides.
The first is the price; the Canon 5DS debuted at around $3700 USD, and I don’t expect Canon to knock many dollars off the EOS Rs MSRP.
The second is file size. The RAW files produced by a 75 MP camera will be huge, which makes storage (both in memory cards and on computers) potentially frustrating.
And third, higher megapixel counts result in smaller pixels. This hurts high ISO performance on even the most professional of cameras, which is one of the reasons why megapixel monsters are often outperformed by other full-frame cameras in low-light scenarios, especially when images are compared at native resolutions.
What do you think about the Canon EOS Rs? Is it something you’d be interested in? What would you like to see in it?
Let me know in the comments!
